Laboring in the obscurity he so richly deserves for over a decade now, your crusty correspondent sporadically offers his views on family, law, politics and money. Nothing herein should be taken too seriously: If you look closely, you can almost see the twinkle in Curmudgeon's eye. Or is that a cataract?

Friday, April 16, 2010

Trying to find routine in a busy time

I've said it many times, I'm sure: Men -- and here "men" means the male members of the species and not "men" as a generic for males and females both (as in "All men are created equal" or "Who for us men and our salvation") -- English can be confusing that way -- crave routine.

One of my many ex-law partners said that a man chooses a haircut, a type of shoe and a type of shirt by 25 and stays with these until he dies. I'm 3 for 3 so far. My late father sat in the same train car in the same seat every night. If I wanted to find him, I knew just where to look. Without GPS or anything.

A lot of what we do becomes semi-automatic: My wallet, keys and bus pass must be put in the same places every night or I'll forget to take them in the morning. I loved it when my wife was home for Spring Break last week but my routine -- and my productivity -- suffered. She's back to work this week... and so am I.

But work is disordered now.

I have one PI case that was supposed to go to trial next week. It won't -- because the learned trial judge can not be bothered to hold court that week. I found this out last week when I went to that courtroom on a motion -- and the learned trial judge was not in court on that day either. In fact, I have been in that courtroom four or five times now... and never seen the judge. I'm beginning to wonder if the judge really exists. (What kind of a name is Remington Steele for a judge anyway?)

This case sticks out as a particular rough spot in my well-ordered routine because it is in the Municipal Court -- a place where I seldom go.

Last week's court order resulted in a doctor's evidence deposition this past Wednesday -- at which the other side failed to appear. That is certain to cause a problem later on. I also had a training session to attend Wednesday night for the clergy abuse review boards in which I participate. I got so wrapped up in Wednesday's events that I didn't bother to check if my motion was going ahead in Federal Court Thursday morning -- yesterday.

I try and stay out of Federal Court -- and am not always successful. Federal cases disrupt my routine as well.

But I was so certain that the motion scheduled for yesterday at 8:30 would be granted without hearing that I didn't even bother to check until 9:30.

You've already guessed what happened, haven't you?

I ran over to the courthouse and -- since the morning call was already completed -- apologized profusely to the judge's minute clerk. He promised to convey my apology to the District Judge. And I got lucky -- the court granted my motion even though I failed to show up.

But I don't like dancing so close to the edge. I'm getting an anxiety attack just telling you about this here.

There are additional disruptions to my routine still to come. I have an appellate brief coming due later this month that I have yet to really start. This is the kind of disruption that I'm supposed to have -- at least I seek this kind of disruption because it allegedly pays the bills (if only my appellate clients paid theirs!).

And Oldest Son is getting married in just five weeks. Long Suffering Spouse is fretting over a dress. I've booked our tickets to Texas (where the nuptials are to take place) and our hotel rooms. I have to get hold of the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner is to take place and set up a menu. I don't know how I'm going to pay for any of this, mind you, but I've got to do it.

It's baseball season for Youngest Son. He's on the varsity and he's lined up a summer team and a pitching coach -- but he's yet to clue me in on just what any of this is going to cost.

And I have to go to the doctor this morning. This is just phase one of a 50,000 mile checkup -- the messy part will merely be scheduled today. Two visits are entirely unnecessary except to satisfy the insurance company. I'd be perfectly willing to have the stupid procedure performed as soon as possible, get my expected clean bill of health, and move on.

And the best part on this doctor's appointment?

We had to call the scheduler to schedule an appointment to schedule an appointment with the doctor. No, I didn't stutter.

Most patients in this practice are older than I am -- they are mostly retired, Medicare patients. My doctor's appointment was therefore set for 11:15. When I protested that this will cost me a day's work, they said I could show up at 10:00 and they might -- might -- be able to take me early. So I'll just waste most of the day on a needless appointment that will last about 90 seconds at which time the doctor will tell me I need a procedure to verify that I remain cancer free... and will send me back to the scheduler.

There's just too much going on now. I could tell you more... but I want to try and get some work done before I head out to the doctor's office.

3 comments:

Sounds like you're juggling a lot right now. I know how just one factor of that is - it's baseball season, here, too. Except this is the first year we've got two in baseball - one in the Majors and one in farm. Luckily (we think) they play on different nights, so we can see each of them play and we don't have to have two kids in two different places via one mom at two exactly the same times. The trade off is that we now have at least five days of baseball every week. It sure throws off dinner, that's for sure. And the two year old is getting a bath every night instead of every two or three days. He's generally a clean kid but for some reason when we go to a baseball game, he has to lie down in the dirt and swim in it. Blech.

Your ads make me wonder sometimes why Google has so much money. The current ad says something like "a 9mm isn't always the best defense" and promotes a self-defense website. Looking at the most recent post, it includes the word "semi-automatic" and nothing else about guns or self-defense.

I don't think I'll spend any money on Google ads in the forseeable future.